WELFARE dependency is raging out of control with one in six British working-age households now having no one at all in employment.

Some 3.5 million families with at least one person aged 16 to 64 don't have a single person doing any work.

In some parts of the UK a quarter of homes have nobody in employment, the Office for National Statistics figures show.

It came as a benefits cheat was told yesterday she could face jail for swindling state hand-outs of more than £94,000.Cleo Embley, 36, continued claiming income support, council tax benefit and housing benefit for four years – even though she had a long-term partner.That meant she was getting an average £23,500 a year from the taxpayer to which she was not entitled.

The latest statistics show the north-east of England still has the highest percentage of workless households at 23 per cent, while the south-east with 13 per cent has the lowest.

The most common reason residents gave for not working was being sick or disabled (28 per cent), followed by 21 per cent citing unemployment, 17 per cent early retirement, 15 per cent looking after family or home and 13 per cent study.

Although the number of families dependent on welfare was very slightly down from last year's 3.7 million, opponents of Britain’s benefits culture said the official figures were still extremely worrying.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, warned more must be done to ensure people of working age do not stay on benefits.

He said: “The number of workless households remains stubbornly high and has done for a least a decade.

“The reduction is welcome but welfare reforms alone won’t solve the problem or its burden on taxpayers. Getting households off benefits and into work is the best route out of poverty.”

Matthew Sinclair of the Taxpayers' Alliance says more must be done to curb the cheats

Some 4.9 million people aged 16 to 64 were living in workless households in the period studied – the first time this figure has dropped below five million since 2008.

Some 1.6 million children lived in jobless homes, but the percentage of such youngsters is down to a record low of 14 per cent from a 20 per cent peak in 1996. Two-thirds were in single-parent households.

Tory MP Nick de Bois added: "We must continue the drive to reform welfare and make work pay so that the default position is to want to get work and not to see welfare as an alternative lifestyle.

"It is inevitable, in some households where no adults have been working for over 10 years, that getting them back into work is still a tough challenge.

"That is why, though progress is encouraging, it is not as fast as I’m sure many would like it to be, including those seeking work.”

The number of homes where no one has ever worked fell 43,000 in the last year to 297,000, or 224,000 when student households are excluded. The 1996 total was 178,000.

The 3.5 million workless households figure is down 182,000 from last year – though the ONS said some of the drop was due to household members having now reached state pension age.

Welfare reforms alone won’t solve the problem. Getting households off benefits and into work is the best route out of poverty

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance

Employment Minister Mark Hoban said getting people into work was a top Government priority and claimed the number of workless households had fallen by more than 425,000 since the coalition took office. The Government’s welfare reforms and work schemes were “giving people the support they need to get a job”, he added.

Lily Caprani of The Children’s Society welcomed the fall in the number of children in workless households but warned: “For many families a move into work is sadly not a move out of poverty. Two-thirds of children living in poverty are in working families – a quarter of a million more than 15 years ago.”

Shadow Employment Minister Stephen Timms said Britain’s unemployment crisis was far from over, with youth and long-term joblessness high and millions of people who did have jobs “working harder for less”.

The figures came to light as a woman who swindled £94,000 in benefits while living with her boyfriend who was helping pay her bills was warned she could face jail.

Cleo Embley, from Rishton, near Blackburn, Lancashire, yesterday admitted three counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstance when she appeared at Burnley Crown Court.

Benefits cheat Embley was receiving £23,500 a year from the taxpayer

The court heard she had been “living as husband and wife” with her partner Paul Harwood, who was working and able to provide financial help.

But she did not supply that information to the Department of Work and Pensions or to Hyndburn Council.

The fraud happened between February 2008 and March 2012.

Embley was released on unconditional bail and the case was adjourned until September 23 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Judge Robert Talbot told her: “This is a case where a large sum of public money has been defrauded.

“It is important that you have in mind that all sentencing options, including immediate custody, will fall to be considered by the sentencing judge.

“The mere fact that I am granting you bail until September 23 and the fact that I have requested a pre-sentence report should not be taken by you as any indication that a non-custodial sentence will follow.”

A spokesman for Hyndburn Council said the case was brought to court by the Department for Work and Pensions with help from the council.